When was the last time you painted the walls in your health club? When was the last time you got a new piece of exercise equipment, I mean really new? When was the last time you bought some new accessories for your health club? If you answered, "I can't remember" or "It's been awhile" then it's time for some change. Some people embrace change, some fear change. Those who fear it are the gyms that are out of business today. Take for example, ce ...

You probably have not thought about it before, if you have you're in the minority. Offering free social groups at your health club is one of the easiest and most cost effective ways to improve retention and it can also lead to additional new gym member sales.  Odds are that many of your health club members enjoy similar activities, running, biking, reading, bible study, the list goes on and on. Think of ways to organize social groups in y ...

A simple thank you card can make all the difference in your customers experience.  It’s a pretty simple concept, right?  I bet you’re not using it.  The Health Club industry is becoming more and more about building relationships now than ever before, especially for middle market facilities that are searching for an identity and competing in an always changing market place. By adding a simple, hand written thank you card to your n ...

Retention must start on the 1st day that your new member joins your health club, with a simple Thank You card.  Ask yourself, when is the last time you purchased something and 2 days later got a Thank You card for buying your item?  I personally can’t recall the last time I got a Thank You  in the mail from a business that I bought something from.  The second your new member leaves your club, print out the Thank You card, sign it, writ ...

Retention is arguably the most important factor to long term success in your health club.  However, before we can discuss how to improve it we have to identify exactly what it is and how to measure it.  Contrary to popular belief retention in our industry is not measured by the amount of new members vs. the amount of lost members, it is measured by how long a member pays you before he or she eventually cancels their memberships. The f ...

Don't you agree that your health club members would renew...if you do a good job of meeting their needs? You bet! The only way to meet the needs of your members and clients and improve member retention is to first know what they want. There are many ways to find out what your members are looking for: surveys, client panels, suggestion boxes, open door management policy, etc.  Whatever it takes to to stay in tune with what what the majority is ...

This is actually a forum post I responded to on www.gymsuccess.com but I thought it was relevant enough to share with you here. I assume you mean a site designed for your gym. There are local webmasters in your area possibly even in your club if you posted an announcement you might could trade out for services. If not then I've had success with 99designs.com Another and sometimes more affordable option are websites like Scriptlance, ela ...

People often ask me how do they know when  their club is performing at optimal levels to which I answer "Could you leave for a couple weeks with out any decrease in overall performance. If the answer is yes then you are well on your way! Sadly, more often than not the answer is a resounding NO WAY the place might burn down, because blah blah blah! Guess what, its your own damn fault. You can blame staff, economy,competition whatever com ...

In business it sometime becomes difficult to come up with new and interesting ideas for marketing and promotions. That's why holidays are so nice other than the general enthusiasm days like Christmas, Thanksgiving or even July 4th generates because of the fellowship, the good meals, and the mini vacation Fitness Business owners can capitalize on the easy advertising opportunities the holidays provide. Shoppers just expect specials and promo ...

Having just returned from Club Industry I am eager to introduce some exciting new programs I learned about and infuses the infectious energy some of the young upstarts shared with me. It was a great show and as always it was good to see some old friends as well as make some new ones. A ton of folks asked what I learned and I think the main thing I realized is that clubs everywhere are very similar. Those who struggle suffer from the same  ...